Lan and Hub?
by Quinis
Summary: Netto and Enzan are dealing with a new navi who is somehow able to appear without a dimensional area and cause trouble. There's also a stranger (or two) who helps but seems to know more than they should.
1. Chapter 1

**Notes** : Okay, a new RockmanEXE/MegamanEXE story. This one involves time travel, specifically people from the future coming to the present. It's really a 'what if' which wouldn't leave me alone. Some knowledge of the anime would be best to have in order to follow some of the events since crossfusion is a thing in this story. But, I'm also okay with answering any questions if there's anything you don't understand so give it a read regardless.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

Netto was hovering on the edge of consciousness. It was nice and he could lie here all day.

"Netto! You have mail!" Rockman's voice broke into his warm haze, forcing him up in an unpleasant way.

Netto yawned and rolled over.

"Wake up!" Rockman insisted.

Netto cracked one eye open, automatically seeking out the blue PET. It was in front of his computer, placed in its charger. On the screen was the familiar blue navi, frowning with his arms crossed.

"Who's the email from?" he asked.

"Enzan."

Netto got up and grabbed the PET. It was rare that Enzan contacted him personally.

"What's it say?" he asked.

"There's going to be a meeting today. Chief Kifune wants to talk to you and him. Apparently something's happened to Laika."

"Is Laika okay?" Netto demanded to know, thinking of the serious solider from Sharo who always did his best. For something to happen to him; Netto couldn't shake the feeling that something big was about to go down.

"I don't know. Either way, the meeting isn't until after school so, you might as well get ready."

Netto sighed at the happy smile on Rockman's face. "Fine," he huffed. Of course Rockman was happy, he wasn't the one who had to sit and listen to Mariko sensei all day.

"I'm sure Laika's fine," Rockman said as Netto got dressed.

* * *

Laika was injured but fine. His arm sported burns which still persisted even after ending his cross fusion. He was able to talk to them via a video conference connected by his navi Searchman.

Netto was pleased to see Laika was healing in a hospital-like room. He was even more pleased to see his father again. Dr Hikari had been working in Sharo, getting their dimensional generators up and running. The generators would allow data, like navis, to appear outside of computers and help in the physical world.

"Hi, Papa!" Netto said, the sentiment echoed by Rockman on the computer.

"Rockman, Netto, how are you?" Dr Hikari asked.

"We're fine."

"Netto still has problems waking up in the morning."

"Rockman!" Netto frowned at both his navi and Meijin, his father's assistant, who was sitting at the computers on their side and monitoring everything. Meijin had chuckled.

"No strange navis have attacked you?" Dr Hikari asked.

"No," Netto and Rockman answered in unison. In fact, it had been a quiet week.

"Laika was attacked by a female navi who somehow managed to appear during on the dimensional area tests," Enzan explained. "And I haven't seen her before."

"A new navi?" Rockman questioned.

"Who was she?"

"She didn't say much," Laika informed them. "But she looked a little like a butterfly. If butterflies were human-sized had wings made of fire data."

"That explains the burns on your arms," Netto stated. "So, you think she'll appear here?"

"We thought it best to warn you," Dr Hikari said. "At least until there's more information."

"She doesn't seem sane."

"When do our enemies?" Enzan muttered in response to Laika's comment.

"She mentioned that she wanted to see me burn," Laika said.

Netto was a little worried by that. "Do you think she's after you?" If she was, he would fly out there on the next flight. There was no way he was leaving Laika to face her alone.

"She didn't use Laika's name. It seemed like she just wanted to burn him for being fused with his navi," Dr Hikari said.

"We'll monitor the situation for now," Chief Kifune said in a tone which marked it as an order.

Netto was quiet as he made his way home. Noticing the unusual behaviour, Rockman commented;

"Are you worried about this new navi?"

"I've never heard of a navi like a butterfly," Netto commented, dancing around the question. "I wonder what she's like."

Rockman had a feeling Netto was worried but knew that they couldn't do anything right now. He decided to indulge his operator's train of thought.

"I wonder where she came from?"

"Maybe she was programmed for battle?" Netto said. "Although it seems strange that we wouldn't have heard of a battling butterfly."

That tone said that Netto was thinking about fighting her. Rockman was a little worried about that. While he would love to test his own skills against a battling butterfly, he didn't want Netto hurt like Laika was. Maybe this train of thought wasn't a good thing after all.

"Did you finish your homework before the meeting?" he asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"Rockman," Netto groaned. "Of course I didn't. I was too busy."

"Maybe you should do it when we get home."

"Fine. Maybe we'll get called in before I can start," Netto dreamed.

* * *

Netto received a call from Meijin the very next day. Some viruses had managed to materialise in a city street, somehow. While the street had been evacuated, they needed someone to go in and delete them.

"How can they appear without a dimensional area?" Netto questioned. He could see them walking around the street, hitting cars and poles. They were most certainly viruses, a bunch of different ones waddling around.

A moment later, the atmosphere became charged as a dome appeared over the area. Netto pulled out his synchro chip and slot it in. A moment later, he was fused with his navi, a blue jumpsuit, backpack and helmet adorning his body.

 _/Ready?/_ Rockman asked in his thoughts.

 _/Let's do this!/_

Netto made quick work of the viruses using Rockman's buster. However, when the last round, yellow and electrical Birī was deleted, the area heated up like the sun was directly above them.

"What?" Netto questioned as a large data figure came into the area. Square data flew around and joined the larger figure as she appeared in the air above him. She certainly looked like a butterfly, the yellow body long and yellow. Orange antenna sprouted from her head and her wings were made of fire spurting from her back in red and blue.

"This is bad!" Netto said out loud.

 _/She's the one who attacked Laika!/_ Rockman said, the data he had received positively identifying her.

"What are you doing here?" Netto demanded to know.

The floating figure examined him like he was a bug under a microscope.

"Another one?" she questioned. If she had a mouth on her smooth lower face, it would have been grinning. "Kahahahaha! Show me what you've got!"

 _/I guess we have no choice,/_ Rockman mused.

"We will win!" both navi and human said in unison. They clenched their hands and glared up at the fiery bug.

Although the navi didn't possess a mouth, she tilted her head up and reached out a hand. She almost seemed to be smiling as data condensed there.

The fusion of Rockman and Netto jumped back and readied a canon chip. One, two, three! They fired. The blast missed as the navi twirled and fire spilled from her hands into a hoop in the air around her.

She laughed. They readied water chips.

"Aqua tower!" they called, slamming their hand on the ground. Water rushed out, heading right towards the navi. It broke the ring, caused her to scream and she threw what was left of the ring at them.

They jumped out of the way but flames splattered out of the impact point and hit their foot.

 _/Ouch!/_ Netto winced and grabbed the injury.

 _/Netto! Look out!/_ Rockman said as the angry fire butterfly hovered above them. Her face was covered in shadow the bulbs at the sides of her head no longer bobbing in the air.

Netto couldn't move fast enough. She was ready to blast him.

"Can't... give up," he said, hopping to the side. The blast hit the ground, spraying out as before.

 _/Is it getting hot here?/_ Rockman asked. The temperature was rising.

Netto was panting now, face hot and body sore. He couldn't pull himself to his feet.

"You've been fighting her too long!" a voice called out.

Both crossfussed human and fiery navi looked over at the speaker. A man in a blue hat and jacket stood in the middle of the street behind her, face obscured by a pair of sunglasses.

He pulled his hand out of his pocket and held up a device shaped like a remote control.

"I'm sorry about this, but you're hurting him," he said before pressing the button.

"W-what? Why...can't I... move?" The navi screamed, body vibrating as data particles shook loose into the air around them. After a few moments, she burst into data particles, logging out.

The air instantly felt cooler. Netto breathed a sigh of relief as the wind hit his face. The dimensional area dissipated and he caught his PET as the crossfussion canceled, separating human and device.

Netto looked at the stranger. "How does that work?"

The stranger looked at the device and then placed it in his pocket. "It bombarded her with the very thing she was using to materialise. She became unstable and had to log out or be deleted, bit by bit."

As Netto walked closer, they pulled the brim of their cap over their eyes and smiled. "Next time, you need to finish the fight quickly or get out of her range. Otherwise, you'll overheat. **Ja ne**!" They waved and bolted off down the street.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes:** I did an extra short story on my tumblr (quinquinis) for the Hikari twins' birthday. Be sure to check it out.

quinquinis tumblr com/post/174773882585/neatsaviors-hey-there-minna-guess-who-are

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

* * *

Netto and Rockman made sure to tell their father about the stranger.

"He appeared from nowhere!"

"He helped us out."

"With some kind of strange device!"

"It stung a little but we were far enough away that we were unaffected. I think."

"I hope."

"It'd be bad if something like that hit us."

"Boys," Dr Hikari said, frowning into the camera. "Back to the topic at hand, the stranger. What do you think the device was?"

Rockman repeated what the stranger had said. "But he didn't say how she managed to materialise in the physical world without a dimensional area."

"Chief Kifune wants us to bring him in for questioning," Netto said with a small frown. He didn't think arresting the guy was right. He had helped them!

On the screen, their father nodded before typing away at something. "Netto, you're at Scilab right now, right?"

Netto hesitantly responded. As much as he loved his dad, he didn't like having to run errands for him because he forgot things.

"Could you send Rockman into the server for a moment? I've getting strange lag."

"Lag?" Netto sighed and sent Rockman over. It didn't sound like anything they should be worrying about. "It's probably the distance."

"It can't hurt to check," Rockman pointed out. "We don't need anything happ-" he stopped talking as he made it towards their father's main server. It was pulsing strangely, data flying in and out. "What, what is this? Papa?"

"Netto, I need you to alert security. Rockman be careful."

Netto started running, keeping his eyes on the PET screen. Rockman was taking cautious steps around the data centre. It looked like a giant crystal in the middle of the net area.

Rockman paused as he noticed someone in a cloak with their hand touching the edge of the data. "Hey!" he called out.

The figure startled and jacked out, dissolving into pieces of data. Rockman turned to Netto's screen and quickly reported what was happening. He also noticed that his brother didn't seem to be at the front desk of Scilab but was running down towards the server room.

"I told security," Netto said when Rockman questioned it. "And now I'm going to check out the source."

"Netto! That's dangerous! We don't know who's there!"

"That's exactly why I'm going. Let's get a look at whoever thinks they can just walk into Scilab and-" Netto was cut off as he crashed into someone turning a corner. That had felt like hitting a wall.

"Sorry!" a deep but soft voice said. A hand was held out. Netto looked up at the person he had run into. They were wearing a blue Scilab security jacket over a white shirt. A cap covered their hair and sunglasses covered their eyes. Even so, both looked brown.

A blue PET was hooked to the stranger's waist, the insignia covered with grey tape.

"Did you see anyone else come by?" Netto asked the security guard.

The guard rubbed the back of his neck, nervously. "No. Are you looking for someone?"

Suddenly Netto realised why the guy seemed off. "You're the one who helped us fight that fire navi!" It was the same hat and glasses!

"What?" the man moved back a little in shock. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Netto, I think he might be telling the truth," Rockman said.

"But he looks exactly like him!"

"Fire navi?" The guy seemed to be cluing into their conversation. "You fought Sol Titanion?" the guy was shocked. "And you're okay?"

"We're fine. Thanks to you!"

"Netto," Rockman sighed. "He already said he has no idea what we're talking about."

"Of course he's going to say that!" Netto said, pulling out his PET to see his navi better. "We were told to take him in for questioning."

"Questioning?" the stranger swallowed. "I should go then."

Netto slouched his shoulders and frowned sadly. "Okay."

The stranger reached out and ruffled his hair. Netto looked up into a familiar smile, although he wasn't sure where he had seen it before.

"I'm not really allowed to answer questions right now. So I'll be going but I'm sure we'll meet again."

Netto watched the man run off. "I think you're right. I don't know if that was the same guy."

* * *

Netto was half-asleep during lunch at school when his PET went off.

"Netto! It's Meijin san!"

"Meijin san!"

"It's not san!" Meijin huffed as he appeared on the screen. Without missing a beat, he jumped into why he called, "Enzan called for a dimensional area at the park down from your current location. Apparently that fire navi is attacking."

Netto's heart raced as he recalled the injuries that Laika had. "I'm on my way." He grabbed his roller blades. It was a good thing that they decided to have lunch outside today. "Meiru! Can you make something up for Mariko sensei for me?"

"Sure," Meiru said with a smile. She turned back to Yaito as Netto bolted from his spot. The moment he hit concrete, the blades were on.

"Alright, Rockman! Directions!"

"Got it!"

Rockman shouted directions for Netto and they just managed to make it into the dimensional area. Meijin had held off on getting it up in order to give them enough time to race there.

Netto slot the synchro chip into his PET and felt Rockman's data form around him. It fused into his body, becoming like electric skin filled with power. The helmet rested heavily atop his head, telling him that the synchronisation was complete.

There was a rumble in the distance, where Enzan was. Enzan was already combined with Blues, giving him a red navi suit, long silver hair with black tips and Blues' red helmet and glowing blue sword.

"Enzan!" Netto called at the same time Rockman cried _/Blues!/_

The human-navi combo turned.

Above them, Sol Titanion cackled.

"It doesn't matter if there's two or two hundred! Do you really think you stand a chance?"

"Of course!" Netto said, although he hesitated inside. Even Rockman seemed against outright attacking.

 _/But what was it that stranger said? 'Finish her quickly or get out of range'?/_

"Out of range of what?" Netto questioned to himself and his navi.

 _/Heat?/_

Netto decided that Rockman was right. The air here was hotter.

"Enzan! We need to defeat her quick! She's heating up the atmosphere!"

Enzan didn't look back. However, he did give a short nod to show that he heard and understood.

Netto threw water chip after water chip. Enzan used an aqua sword and jumped all over the place, trying to cut her from the sky. The flames were too much and their water attacks were cancelled out.

 _/We're in trouble!/_ Rockman sent.

Netto agreed. However, he had one technique which could help them last a little longer.

"Salamander!" he said, accessing the single fire-type chip he had right now. It bathed him in hot, digital flames, keeping him from feeling the worst of Sol Titanion's heat. Just in time too as Enzan slipped to the ground. He was overheated enough to fall unconscious. Blues' armor and weapons dissipated into data and then condensed into a red PET which hit the ground.

 _/BLUES!/_

"ENZAN!" They rushed forward as Sol Titanion reached for the PET. The fire around them caused her to retreat a little in surprise.

"Pathetic!" she spat. "One of you is down and you still insist on fighting?"

"Of course!" they responded. "We won't let you hurt them! CHARGE SHOT!" Their hand transformed into a buster cannon and fired.

Sol Titanion screeched, shoulder bleeding bits of data into the air. She rushed forward, ramming her uninjured shoulder into Netto's gut.

Netto dropped to the ground, head spinning and Rockman's worried voice in his head.

"I'm fine," he grunted out, gagging onto the ground as his stomach rebelled.

Sol Titanion cackled, knowing that he wouldn't be able to bring himself to move before her next fireball hit him. Netto tried to will his body to move but it was too sluggish.

An arm wrapped around him and yanked him out of the way. The road exploded and bits of it went flying everywhere. Netto hissed as some hit him and the person who had grabbed him grunted in pain. The sound was not Blues or Enzan. Netto quickly turned to see who had helped him. It was the stranger again, in the same outfit, adjusting his sunglasses.

"I really shouldn't do that," they muttered. Netto looked at the stranger in worry.

"That's right! You can't fight a navi! You're not crossfussed! You could be really hurt!"

"What about you?" the stranger countered in a playful tone.

"I'll be fine. Rockman protects me," Netto said, knocking a hand onto his blue helmet.

The stranger looked past him. Sol Titanion was gearing up for another attack. Netto huffed and pulled himself to his feet. She wouldn't be allowed to hurt this stranger. He pointed his buster at her and started charging.

Another blast came suddenly from behind him. Netto turned but didn't see anyone but the stranger. Sol Titanion screeched again and vanished. The dimensional area vanished, its job done.

Netto grabbed his PET as it reformed before him and stared at the stranger on the ground. Has his navi come out to help them in the final moments? "Did you see who fired that shot?"

"Nope," the stranger responded. His hand twitched up to his hat before pausing and dropping back down to his side. "I'm glad you're alright."

"Halt," Enzan said, groggily. He had found the time to recover and hobble over. His face was still flushed from the heat and he held up his PET with the Netsaviour badge displayed above the screen. "We would like to ask you a few questions."

"I really can't stay for questions," the stranger muttered, stepping back. He bowed and bolted.

Enzan glared at Netto, like it was his fault the stranger got away.

"I'm tired so I'm not chasing him," Netto said. "You go."

Enzan huffed and looked away, perhaps knowing that neither of them really would have been able to catch the strange adult.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Chief Kifune wasn't surprised that they had been attacked again. He was surprised to hear about the stranger who helped save them again. Enzan was suspicious since the stranger only seemed to appear when they were fighting Sol Titanion.

Netto didn't tell them about encountering the stranger in the halls of SciLab. The theory that the stranger and Sol Titanion were connected was probably true, considering he had learnt the navi's name in that encounter even though she hadn't made an appearance.

"Have you seen the stranger's navi?" Chief Kifune asked.

Enzan and Netto both shook their heads. Rockman popped up on the screen, Blues standing tall behind him.

"But he does have a PET," Rockman reminded them.

"That's right!" Netto recalled. "It was blue! The navi symbol was covered though."

"Blue doesn't really match with the navi who is attacking us," Blues pointed out.

"It could be a red herring," Enzan said. Blues didn't look convinced but he didn't say anymore.

"We'll find out eventually," Chief Kifune said. "Your orders are the same. Detain the stranger for questioning. Capture or delete the navi when you get the chance."

Netto had been watching Rockman as the Chief spoke. He noticed Rockman's gaze drop to the ground and his eyes soften like he was going to cry. He was probably thinking that the Chief was being too harsh. Rockman hated fighting to deletion.

Netto frowned as Enzan ended the video conference.

"We're not really going to arrest this guy, are we?"

"Detain for questioning," Enzan corrected. "Not arrest. And yes. Those are our orders."

"It's not fair. What are we supposed to ask?" Rockman questioned.

"Asking about where the strange navi came from would be a place to start," Blues stated.

"And about how she's able to manifest without a dimensional area," Enzan added.

Netto sighed and ignored the glare Enzan sent his way. They both knew that Netto wasn't going to detain the stranger.

"I guess I'll have to do it myself."

"Not exactly," a voice said from the door. It was Dr Hikari, who was standing in the doorway. He stepped to the side, revealing Laika standing behind him. Laika waved the arm which wasn't wrapped up in bandages.

"Should you be here?" Enzan questioned while, at the same time, Netto asked, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Laika said, standing tall.

"We're still waiting for the burns to heal so Laika's off active duty back in Sharo however, he's cleared for net savior duties," Searchman said, appearing next to Rockman and Blues inside the computer.

"That's good!" Netto said happily. He walked over to Laika and grinned at him. Laika huffed and looked anywhere but at him. After a couple of moments being ignored, Netto turned to his father.

"Papa, what do you know?"

"There's a strange signal whenever the navi pops up," Dr Hikari responded.

Enzan perked up. They would be able to track her.

"It only works when she appears so we still have no idea where she is in the digital world."

"At least we can interfere before she can hurt someone," Laika said.

"You're not going out there with your arm bandaged up, even if you're cleared," Enzan said.

Laika countered that he was perfectly fine. Enzan asked him whether he would even be able to cross-fuse. Laika answered that he could.

Netto tuned out their fighting out as his father turned to him.

"Netto, Rockman, did you find the source of the anomaly the other day?"

Rockman nodded and told him about the cloaked navi.

"We also ran into the stranger. His outfit is a Scilab security uniform," Netto said.

"He also told us the navi's name. Sol Titanion."

Dr Hikari frowned thoughtfully. "In that case, there's almost certainly a link between the two. That's worrying."

"How so?" Netto questioned. Laika and Enzan had gone silent, the words from Dr Hikari causing them to stop. If he found something worrying, what did that mean for them?

"From what I've been able to analyse, this navi, Sol Titanion, shouldn't exist. Not only is she able to appear in this world but her power puts her on the level of a navi like Forte. It's unlikely that a navi as strong and destructive as her could manage to stay secret."

"As strong as Forte?" Laika repeated. "No wonder I lost."

"Are there any plans for defeating her?" Enzan asked.

"Papa has a point," Rockman commented to Netto. "Someone as strong as her, we should have heard something before now. She's come out of nowhere. How? Is there no record of her?"

"There are no records of any navi with her appearance, powers or name," Dr Hikari said. "And there's currently no plan. I have a few ideas but nothing concrete. I'll have to talk to Meijin first."

"So our only lead is the stranger Netto let get away."

"Hey!"

* * *

Netto sat on the bench at the park. He didn't want to go home as Roll had given Rockman a message saying that Meiru had collected his homework and would give it to him when he got home. He wasn't in the mood for homework.

"I can't believe they blamed me," Netto grumbled. "I did most of the work!"

" **'We'** ," Rockman corrected. "We did most of the work. Although it was all luck, Netto. If it wasn't for the stranger, we would have been in trouble."

"I know," Netto sighed. "I suppose you want to thank them or something?"

"Actually, I think Rockman is telling you to say thank you," the stranger said, leaning over the back of the bench. They grinned at him and waved. "Hello, Netto. It's surprising to see you here, although I'm glad for it."

"What do you mean?" Netto asked.

"I heard about what happened today," the stranger said. "You have no plans for fighting Sol Titanion. Which means you're just going to throw yourself into fighting her, putting Rockman and yourself at risk."

"Well, it's not like I can just stand by and let her do whatever she wants! She's hurting people!"

The strangers expression softened, smile fading. "I know. By the way, you can call me Lan. Here." The stranger passed him a round keychain. There was a button on it.

"What's this?" Netto asked.

Lan pointed at the device. "That is a button." Netto stared at him. "What? That's not enough?" He playfully sighed, grinning again. "If you press it, it sends a signal to my PET. If Sol Titanion gives you any trouble, press that and Hub or I will come help."

"Hub?" Rockman questioned.

"My brother. He's more dependable than I am. You met him earlier today."

Netto recalled the stranger who helped. Perhaps that was the brother? That would mean that Hub and Lan had very similar looks.

"Why are you telling us this?" Rockman asked.

"Because I don't want you to get hurt. This shouldn't have happened." Suddenly the stranger looked like he was about to cry. "Sol Titanion should have stayed in the solar power plant."

"Why didn't she?" Netto asked.

Lan shook his head. "That's enough for today. I've given you a way to call us for help. I wish you and your father luck in figuring out how to stop her." With that said, he ran off.

* * *

Everything was quiet for the next couple of days. Netto spent his afternoons at Scilab, either working on homework to his everlasting boredom or training with Enzan and Laika. He kept the keychain Lan gave him a secret and didn't mention the stranger's name.

Rockman suspected it wasn't the stranger's real name anyway since he had given it up so easily.

After those couple of days, Netto did mention the device to his mother who seemed relieved that someone was watching over them. Although she encouraged them to tell their father.

The weekend arrived and Netto relished the chance to sleep in.

"You should clean your room," Rockman said the moment Netto started talking about going to the arcade the next day.

"Aw, Rockman," Netto whined.

"And you didn't remember to brush your teeth." Netto moaned at the nagging. "Also, Papa wants us at the labs. Enzan and Laika will be there too. Searchman contacted me with the news that Laika's bandages came off today."

"That's good!" Netto said with a grin. It seemed like things were going back to normal. Maybe they wouldn't have to fight Sol Titanion again. "Do you think Lan took care of Sol Titanion?"

"I don't know. Wouldn't Papa be able to track something like that?"

Netto didn't know the answer to that. He decided to ask his father the next day.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

SciLab was quiet. Netto disliked it like this. There was no reason for a place of science to be quiet. He liked it bustling with people doing experiments and talking about all the new stuff they'd learnt, even if he didn't understand most of it yet.

Netto breathed a sigh of relief when he opened the door to his father's lab to see Meijin on the computers. Someone to talk to!

"Meijin san!"

"It's not san!" Meijin responded. He turned to face Netto with a grin on his face. "Come see what we've got working."

"What?" Netto asked, popping his head around the adult to see the screen. There were graphs on it and a map of the city. It didn't make sense to him.

"We've been able to get some readings from the dimensional area. There's always a small jump in some kind of unidentifiable radiation whenever Sol Titanion appears. It was Dr Hikari's idea to look for it."

Netto nodded, recalling his father talking about having found a way to track the navi.

"So we really do have a way to figure out where Sol Titanion's going to appear next?" Rockman questioned in a hopeful voice.

"We'll have to see. The next time something registers, we'll be sending you kids out and if you find her, then we'll know that it works."

"Cool."

The computer started beeping, a spot appearing on a map.

"Uh, is it supposed to do that?" Rockman asked from the PET.

"Yes and no," Meijin said. "Yes, it is. Looks like it picked up Sol Titanion sooner than expected. But also no, because she shouldn't have gotten past SciLab's security."

"She's here?" Netto and Rockman cried in unison. Meijin started typing, getting a dimensional area going before she could reach them.

Netto hesitated for a moment before pressing the button on the keychain Lan gave him. Papa was somewhere in this building and he couldn't risk anything happening to him or all the people who were working through their Sunday.

"Let's do this Rockman," Netto said, slotting the cross-fusion chip into the PET. Rockman's data formed and pressed against his body and clothes, encasing him in blue armor. "Meijin, where is she exactly?"

Meijin could only give him a round-about location since she was on the move. It was more than enough for Netto to run out of the room and down the hall in the direction Sol Titanian was coming from.

 _/This time, we're going to strike first!/_ he thought. The moment he saw her, he cried out, "charge shot!" and shot her through the chest.

Sol Titanian jolted back, going still where she was hovering in the air. A moment later, she laughed.

"Kahahaha! You must be quite fired up to come at me like that! Ah, but still not fired up enough! Show me everything you've got! Now it's time to get burned!"

 _/She's insane!/_ Netto wasn't sure if that was his or Rockman's thought. Maybe they both thought it at the same time.

 _/Through the wall! We're right next to the lab!/_ Rockman advised.

Netto knew just the chip. Or chips. He announced, "Program Advance!" as he felt the power of each of the cannons shoot through him. "Z-Cannon!" He fired as many rapid shots as he could.

Sol Titanian was blasted back through the wall. She wasn't knocked to her feet though as she remained floating inside the wider room. It was perfect for battling in.

"My turn. Time to cry," she said. The jets of fire from her back increased in power and flames seemed to dance around her.

Netto swallowed and started moving. He was just fast enough to avoid a direct hit, feeling the heat brush against him, close enough to burn. Come to think of it, where were Enzan and Laika? Had they been in the building when the area went up? Were they on their way now?

Netto didn't want to rely on others to save him, but he didn't know if he could keep fighting her. They exchanged blows and he tried to keep his distance but he could feel his skin prickling with the heat. His eyes were stinging and sore. His mouth was dry.

He tried a couple of bubbler chips and all the other water chips he had. She barely moved under the barrage of attacks.

 _/Hold on Netto!/_ Rockman tried to encourage him. Netto's eyes slipped closed. Something clattered to the ground. "Netto!"

* * *

"Hey, hey, kid! Wake up!"

Netto's eyes felt crusted together but he obeyed the instruction anyway. What had happened? He opened his eyes to see Lan.

"You made it," he said, his voice cracking in his dry throat. He jolted around. Where was his PET? It must have fallen nearby when the cross-fusion transformation cancelled.

"Your navi was worried about you," Lan's voice said from behind him. He turned to see another Lan, holding out his PET.

Rockman's face was in a frown, eyes soft with worry. "Netto, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he responded, feeling better than he had moments before. "What happened?"

"Heatstroke," one of the Lans said. "You fainted."

"Okay. Why are there two of you?"

"I'm Hub," the one who had handed him his PET said. "And I guess it's a good thing Lan gave you a way to contact us."

"See?" Lan said with a wide and victorious grin.

"So you are brothers?" Rockman asked, tilting his head to the side. They were a little too alike, even with the caps and sunglasses hiding some of their features.

"Better. We're twins!" Lan announced.

"And we've probably been caught on camera this time," Hub sighed. He looked at Netto as he spoke. "What was it you said about us being wanted for questioning?"

"Chief Kifune and Papa want to ask you things," Rockman explained.

"Like how you know Sol Titanian," Netto added. "And why she's so crazy."

Lan and Hub frowned. Lan's turned mouth appeared sad and Hub's was tense.

"I don't know if we're going to be able to answer all of your questions, but we'll try," Lan said with a glance at his twin.

* * *

"Can we see your faces?" was the first question out of Dr Hikari's mouth. They hadn't called Chief Kifune yet, mostly to keep Lan and Hub relaxed and less focused on the possible arrest part of this questioning.

Lan shook his head. "Honestly, we're rather keep our identities secret. For reasons."

"Reasons which would be obvious if you knew who we were," Hub added, fiddling with his sunglasses.

"Are you criminals?" Enzan demanded to know.

"No," Hub responded without hesitation.

"What do you do?" Laika asked.

The twins shared a look. Lan nervously rubbed the back of his neck. Hub stared at him.

Lan nervously laughed and motioned down at his blue security jacket and pants. "Well, these uniforms are actually Hub's. He works in security back home. I'm… ah…" Hub rolled his eyes at his brother's mumbling with an exasperated look.

"He's a scientist," Hub explained. "Mostly in the field of networking but a little robotics and tech thrown in."

Lan went a little pink around the ears. Dr Hikari reached into his drawers and pulled something out.

"Do you think you can fix this?" he asked. Lan held his hands out and Dr Hikari tossed it over.

"It's a mini-projector," Lan said in wonder. He twisted it in his hands, trying to look at it from all angles. "I didn't realise how long ago these things were created. Is it broken?" He flicked the switch and looked it over again as nothing happened. "Hub."

"I'll get you a screwdriver," Hub sighed. He walked over to Dr Hikari's desk and, on the first try, opened the drawer with the mini screwdriver in it.

Lan completely spaced out of the conversation as he fiddled with the little device in his hands.

"So," Hub said with a grin. "I hope you didn't have any more questions. He'll be too busy working on that to answer them."

"I noticed," Dr Hikari said. "Reminds me a little of Meijin when he's working on a particularly tricky problem."

Meijin liked to snack while working as well. Hub sighed as his brother's train of thought jumped from that to the kinds of food available in the past.

"Hub! We need to hit MaHa Ichiban!" he said as he undid a screw and pried off the back panel.

Hub rolled his eyes. Of course his brother wanted curry. "You can have chips from the vending machines," Hub responded. He looked over at the group. "That is, if I'm allowed to go get some?"

"You'll need money for the machine," Netto pointed out.

Hub smiled. "I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Stealing is wrong," Lan said. Causing Hub to shoot him a glare. Hub sighed.

"Could I borrow some funds from someone?"

Netto looked to his father before nodding. "But I don't have any cash on me."

Hub said it was fine and just tapped the screen of Netto's PET. Netto's eyes widened as the money was automatically deducted.

"How did you do that?"

"Are you sure you're not a thief?" Laika questioned.

"I'm sure," Hub said, ignoring Netto's question. He walked out of the room and returned minutes later with a pack of chips. He tossed them to his brother, who ignored them for a couple of minutes and then tore into the packet while puzzling over the little device.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

Netto watched Lan work in interest. Lan had pulled out a small bag with some things it and started fiddling around. Dr Hikari also watched what he was doing.

Lan was nice enough to explain that a couple of connections were loose. However, he needed to move the lens in order to get in there to fix them up.

Hub was bored and had pretty much fallen asleep in one of the chairs, his arms and head resting on the desk. Laika and Enzan refused to leave the room, even though they weren't interested in any of this. They just didn't trust the two strangers.

Laika was sitting, almost meditating as he didn't move and Enzan had pulled out his PET and some paperwork to work on. The navis were talking inside the computer network.

Rockman thought something was off about Lan and Hub.

"Only one of them has a PET," Searchman pointed out. The device in question was clipped to Hub's waist. "And I'm not sure there's a navi in it."

"You've tried pinging it?" Laika quietly said, proving that he wasn't completely gone to the world. Searchman nodded and described it like hitting against a brick wall. He knew there was something on the other side but his senses were telling him that there wasn't.

Maybe it was the lack of navi that gave Rockman the feeling. He was used to meeting new navis with new people. But Hub was old enough to not have a navi. Navis were more common with younger people.

"A-ha!" Lan cried out, holding up the little projector box in one hand. "Done!"

Hub stirred. His brown eyes fixed on his twin. "Do you need to cry out like that?"

"Yes. It's part of science."

"It's really not."

"Maybe we should ask the expert," Lan said with a grin at Dr Hikari. "Come on, have you ever cried out like that?"

"I don't think I should answer that."

"And that's a yes!"

"Are you really an adult?" Enzan questioned, Laika nodding in agreement.

"So what does it do?" Netto asked. Lan grinned as if this was the question he was waiting for.

"You jack your navi in here," Lan said, pointing to the smooth red infrared sensor. "And your navi can project a file for you here." He pointed to the lens on the other side. "Good for meetings with the bosses."

Netto gave him a bland look. Meetings with bosses? He didn't know what Laika's and Enzan's deal was; this guy was certainly an adult.

"You fixed it?" Dr Hikari mused. It seemed that Lan did have some skill in the fields he claimed. It didn't explain why they had never heard of him.

* * *

Lan and Hub refused to go home with Dr Hikari, even though he offered. They insisted that they would be fine staying in SciLab. "This way we'll know immediately when Sol Titanian appears," Hub explained.

Enzan refused to leave them alone and pulled out a sleeping bag.

"Sleepover in the labs!" Netto proclaimed with joy. He bounced over to Enzan. "Hey, do you have another one of those?"

Enzan glared his answer.

"I can get you one Netto," Laika said. "I'll sleep on the floor anyway."

Both Netto and Lan gasped.

"The ground is hard! You need a sleeping bag at least!" Netto said.

"You can have the couch and I can sleep in a chair!" Lan insisted.

Laika tensed, hiding his fluster by adjusting his hat and hiding behind his arms for a moment. "I will be fine. Neither of you need to worry."

"It doesn't matter what you're used to in Sharo! Here we sleep properly!" Lan insisted. "I can get Hub to go purchase sleeping bags for everyone!"

"I have a sleeping bag," Enzan said.

"See? That sounds perfect!" Netto said.

"With what money?" Hub said. "Also, I'm not doing it."

Lan turned to his brother and stuck out his bottom lip, frowning sadly.

"Not. Doing. It."

"But-"

"Lan, none of our money is valid for this time. Laika will be fine on the floor."

"You're just saying that because you used to sleep on the floor."

"There are sleeping bags and air mattresses in the storage room," Dr Hikari interrupted. "I can go get them."

Hub sighed and stood up. "No. I'll go. Lan can come with me."

Lan did the kicked puppy look again. It was just as effective as it was moments ago. The netsaviours and Dr Hikari watched in amusement as Hub pulled Lan out of the room.

Moments after they left, Dr Hikari realised he hadn't told them where the storage room was.

* * *

The sleepover was nice. Netto watched as Enzan and Laika unrolled their sleeping bags and prepared to spend the night in the same room as his friends.

"We should do something," he said. "Like go battle viruses until late in the night."

"We should go to sleep," Enzan said, practically throwing himself into his sleeping bag. "Good night."

"Night," Laika responded as he also slipped into his sleeping bag.

Netto sighed and pulled out his PET. "Rockman?"

Rockman gave a nervous chuckle. "It's not really a sleepover if you're spending the night with me. I mean, we're always together."

"Yeah," Netto responded with a soft smile, hugging his PET to his chest. "Hey, Rockman?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think Hub and Lan are up to?"

Rockman was silent for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"There must be a reason they're here and they know about Sol Titanion. Don't you wonder why?"

"We could go ask." Rockman suggested quietly.

Netto nodded. He got up and slowly stepped out of the room and down the hall to where Hub and Lan had been given a room. It was the same kind of room Netto had been confined to when Dr Hikari was working and he wasn't allowed to disturb him. There were couches, plants and even a table and chairs. A bit like a large waiting room. With a security camera.

Netto could hear tapping as he opened the door. Lan was sitting on the couch, his PET sitting before him. It was folded out as one big touch screen and Lan was tapping away on it. Netto's eyes widened. He couldn't touch the screen of his PET without the stylus. To be able to use his hands would be really convenient.

Sitting across from Lan was Hub, who looked over at them and waved when they entered.

"Lan," he said. Lan looked up with a hum. Hub pointed at them.

 **[Oh, hey!]** Lan said in English. **[I thought you two might visit!]**

Netto gave Lan a confused look. Why would he think that?

Hub shook his head. **[You don't have to pretend you don't understand. We know you do.]**

 **[Are you speaking English because of the cameras?]** Rockman asked appearing on the nearest computer screen.

Lan and Hub started laughing.

Lan said, **[no! Many science words come from English anyway! All the good books about technology are in English too! And Dr Hikari could just get you to translate anything he doesn't understand.]**

 **[Actually, he would just get Rockman to do it,]** Hub said knowingly.

Rockman sighed with that knowledge that Hub was right. He had helped Netto refine his knowledge of the language and had built, through use, a better grasp of Japanese to English translation and vice versa than most navis.

"Okay. So you're not worried about the cameras and people listening to your conversations?" Netto mused.

 **[Not really. The English is just from habit.]**

"Habit?" Netto asked Hub.

Hub continued, **[usually, when we're going by Lan and Hub, we are in Netopia or talking to some of our friends from there. So English is the default language we speak when going by these names.]**

 **[Man,]** Lan huffed with a grin. **[They sure were mad when they found out that we knew English.]**

"That seems kind of mean."

"Yeah! Why didn't you tell them?" Netto said.

Lan and Hub shared a look before shrugging.

 **[It just... never came up,]** Lan said. **[Why are you speaking Japanese to us when you can speak English fine?]**

Netto's face went red.

 **[He thinks he sounds stupid,]** Rockman answered in English. **[Because he doesn't pronounce things correctly.]**

 **[No one expects you to. As long as you can be understood, you're fine.]**

There was a moment of silence as Netto processed that.

Rockman remembered something. **[You know, we came to ask you some questions about Sol Titanion.]**

 **[Ask away!]** Lan said with a wide grin at Netto. **[In English.]**

"That's mean," Rockman commented.

Netto spoke slowly, thinking before he spoke. **[You are... like my English teacher.]** He made a disgusted face. He didn't do much work in English. Only enough to pass and keep Rockman off his back.

 **[Am I talking too fast?]** Lan mused.

Netto glared. **[My English teacher said to speak English in class.]** Netto much preferred reading and listening to English. It was the main way he had learnt the language after all. Through the books his father brought home from work and the parts of the net which were English only; consisting of netbattle strategies and guides. Most of the chips had names derived from English too and an understanding of the language helped build an understanding of any new chips.

 **[Once you have people to talk to, you'll find speaking English to be better than reading it,]** Lan said knowingly.

Netto thought that if it was Lan saying it, it might be true.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

* * *

Netto looked away as Dr Hikari looked over at him again. He knew his father was worried since he wasn't saying much or eating much. Having breakfast in the SciLab cafeteria should have been exciting but instead he felt down. The previous night, he and Rockman had managed to get Sol Titanion's story from Hub and Lan.

Part of him wished they hadn't.

Rockman didn't even react as Blues appeared in his PET. He greeted the other navi to let him know that he had noticed his arrival and went back to staring at his operator.

"Enzan is worried about Netto. And I see he's not the only one out of sorts," Blues commented.

Rockman tried to smile but he could feel how weak and wobbly it was.

"Laika is worried as well," Searchman commented, surprising them both by appearing from the shadows. Rockman wondered how he had missed the sniper. "What happened?"

"If it was Hub and Lan-"

"It was. And wasn't," Rockman responded, cutting Blues off. "We found out the story behind Sol Titanion from them."

"So? How was she created?" Blues demanded to know. Enzan pulled out his PET when it buzzed, tuning into the conversation. It was a move noticed by Laika, who did the same.

"She was a twin," Rockman said quickly. They needed to understand. They couldn't know exactly why this bothered them but, they had to understand. They had to! "She was a twin navi and she lost her twin and I don't know what I would do if I lost Netto, maybe I would go a crazy as she is, hunting down everyone and anyone, anything to make everyone understand how it feels."

Rockman's ramble had been heard by all the people gathered in the room. Netto rubbed at his eyes a little and gripped his PET tightly in his hands. It was all the silent comfort he could offer.

Laika and Enzan didn't know what to say. Dr Hikari had gone pale.

"It doesn't excuse attacking people," Lan muttered from where he was seated on the ground and against the wall. He hadn't wanted to join them at the table, instead opting to watch from a distance.

Hub nodded in agreement, lips pressed tightly together. "Perhaps I don't have the right to say this, considering we've also failed to stop her, but if Rockman did go crazy, I think that your friends would do everything in their power to stop you. We owe Sol Titanion the same." A paused and then he mumbled, "even if we don't like it."

"We really don't like it," Lan said, expelling a huff of air. "I've been trying to figure out a way to keep her contained, at least until we can get her some help but-"

"She's really strong. Her creator wanted his navis to be able to defend themselves."

"You managed to scare her off last time," Enzan pointed out. He stared at the twins, suspicious. "Why not just delete her?"

"Enzan!" Netto gasped.

Laika reluctantly agreed with Enzan. He couldn't look at Netto's wide eyed and teary expression, choosing to look at his hands as he said as much.

"Think about it Netto. Twin navis, twin people, I'm sure you can do the maths." Enzan glared at Lan, the one who had confirmed programming skills.

Lan didn't get why Enzan was glaring at him.

Netto didn't get it either. "What do you mean?"

"I believe Enzan is suggesting that Sol Titanion and her twin were navis for Lan and Hub," Dr Hikari said.

Lan snorted a laugh while Hub looked horrified.

Dr Hikari continued, although hesitantly, "we haven't seen your navis so it's possible."

Lan took deep breaths and calmed down enough to talk, cheeks red from laughter. "No, no, no. No. We came into this much later, after Sol Titanion had gone crazy. She stole a program from my lab."

Hub had taken a deep breath while Lan was talking and was now calm enough to add, "that program is how she's able to appear in this physical world."

"A program that lets a navi appear here?" Dr Hikari mused. "Could you explain how it works?"

"I could, but I'd rather not."

"You better not," Hub added, rubbing his forehead like he had a headache.

Meijin's face suddenly appeared on the screen, looking serious.

"Let me guess, she's appeared again," Lan sighed. **[Can't catch a break, can we? It's like she's trying to run us down.]**

 **[Actually, that could be exactly what she's doing,]** Hub responded in English.

Laika just looked confused while Enzan looked worried. Netto laughed it off.

"We can take care of it!" he insisted.

"I'll go with you," Hub said. He looked over a Lan, mouthing an order for his younger twin to _stay put_. Lan huffed and crossed his arms but he stayed.

"Where is she?" Enzan asked Meijin.

"Outside SciLab."

Dr Hikari nodded to dismiss them and the kids all bolted for the exit. Hub quickly followed behind. Lan got up to find a nearby computer terminal where he could watch over them.

* * *

Sol Titanion was floating in the middle of the outside testing field. She was probably waiting for them or waiting for something else. Either way, they were in trouble.

The grass was dry and wilted below her, indicating the danger just being around her posed.

"Meijin san!" Netto called into his PET with Meijin on the other end. "Dimensional area!"

"It's not san!" Meijin responded like always as the area appeared around them.

Sol Titanion noticed the change in atmosphere, looked up at the dome around them and then at the three kids and adult standing at the entrance to the field.

She cackled. "You come this far again? How fiery. Not enough for me though. More fire! More burning!" She bounced her hands up, fire dancing around her.

"Is it just me or is she getting more unstable?" Laika questioned.

Enzan wasted no time slotting a syncro chip into his PET and combing with Blues. His arm turned into a blade, ready to chop the crazy navi down.

Laika combined with the sniper Searchman and ran around, firing shots at her. He was trying to aim for the flamethrowers on her back and blast them off, assuming the wings made of fire were the main things keeping her in the air. However, she danced and twirled around every hit.

Netto, combined with Rockman, was also firing off buster shots. Larger in size, they couldn't be fired from a distance so he was jumping in and out. She knocked away any hits she couldn't dodge.

Laika fired a shot and she dodged but, this time Netto had predicted it and fired off two quick buster shots. One she managed to deflect but the other hit her in the chest. The recoil left her open for Enzan to cut her down. He sliced across her chest, just missing her navi icon and sliding under it. She screamed and quickly flew back, dropping a large mine as she moved.

"Look out!" Hub called. He thrust a hand forward and opened his palm, a shot resembling one of Rockman's buster shots building energy before firing. He destroyed the mine before it could explode.

"Unbelievable... you hurt me." Data bits floated out into the air from around her injury. "Impossible, no... It doesn't matter." Energy gathered around her.

The mystery of how Hub could do what he just did would have to wait. She was going to destroy them.

"How do we fight that?" Laika questioned as a giant fireball began appearing above them.

Hub observed silently for a moment, as if deciding something. For once, the little voice in his ear was quiet. As if giving silent permission for him to do what he thought best.

His eyes glowed green as he scanned the area. There was something different about this energy and he was surprised to find that he could scan the electronics around them. He could reach the ones connected to the net where previously he hadn't been able to sense anything aside from his PET.

Netto stilled as his body seemed to tingle with goosebumps.

 _[That's... he's a navi!]_ Rockman said mentally.

"He's a what?" Netto questioned out loud.

Even Sol Titanion took notice, pausing in gathering her attack to look at Hub. She inclined her head as if she was smiling and laughed. "Kahahaha! It doesn't matter that you followed me here. I'll take this chance to turn you to ash!"

"Good luck," Hub muttered back before rushing forward. He ran over to where Sol Titanion was floating and jumped. He jumped higher than an ordinary human, grabbing onto her joined legs. She flailed for a moment before going still.

Both navis exploded into data bits which swirled around before vanishing, taking the dimensional area with them.

Back to normal, Netto held his PET in one had as he looked around. "What just happened?"

"I second that," Laika commented.

"I bet Lan knows," Enzan growled.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

* * *

Alarms were blaring. Lights flickered everywhere and computers beeped in distress before overheating. The destruction was working its way through SciLabs' area.

They didn't need to find Lan. The distressed man came running up to them first. He had pulled a lab coat on over his security uniform. The hat and sunglasses remained, obscuring his face.

"Tell me you grabbed the PET," he panted. Dr Hikari came running up behind Lan.

"Are you all okay?" he asked.

A moment later, a light above them popped and crashed, exploding. Someone screamed. The corridor went dark.

"I've got your PET," Netto said to Lan, holding the device out where Lan had been before the lights went out. There was another explosion down the hall.

"They're fighting on Scilab's net but the servers can't take it. We're talking two top of the line navis fighting almost all out, generating huge amounts of data to process and power surges," Lan said as he took the PET from Netto's hand. "We need to find them."

"What are you going to do when we do?" Laika asked.

"Stop them!" was Lan's answer, yelled from down the hall. They all started running towards the light as Lan made his way to where he had been before.

Lan grabbed a short cable with a jack on one end and some kind of strange rectangle port on the other. The strange rectangle went into the PET while the other port was plugged into the computer. Lan's PET was open. It seemed to be nothing more than two screens put together, like a tiny laptop with another screen instead of a keyboard.

"What is that?" Enzan questioned. He was familiar with every PET design and had never seen one like that.

The large computer screen above them flickered and distorted.

"Come on Hub," Lan muttered, tapping away on the PET screen. It seemed to respond to his movements, showing different place in the net.

"Netto!" Rockman said. He didn't need to say anymore, Netto knew what his navi wanted. He sent his navi into the net using the infrared sensors. Enzan and Laika followed his lead, Blues and Searchman appearing behind Rockman in the net.

* * *

Finding Hub was easy. Getting near him was difficult. His fight with Sol Titanion was generating a field that none of them could break through. It was like a barrier of wind.

"Who knew he was that strong?" Blues mused as he tried to caught sight of the figures in the mist.

"I think Rockman sensed it," Searchman commented, looking down at the little blue navi. "You noticed something, didn't you?"

Rockman remained silent.

"Stop drilling Rockman for answers!" Netto huffed. "He doesn't know anything more than you do."

"Hopefully we're close enough," Lan said. He bellowed at the screen, "HUB! THE SERVERS CAN'T TAKE THIS!"

The storm roared before them for a moment before a voice seemed to echo out of it.

"GOT IT!"

The ground rumbled and then bounced. The sound of an explosion echoed through the area and then nothing.

The storm before them cleared and revealed a large hole in the net floor.

"I am not looking forward to fixing that," Lan muttered, rubbing a hand across his forehead.

"Where did they go?" Laika asked.

Blues stood at the edge of the hole for a moment before turning back to Enzan.

"It seems this hole goes to the UraNet." The UraNet being the space underneath the Net, where criminals often went. It was twisted and dangerous, filled with strong navis and viruses.

"The UraNet is probably the only place on the net which can handle a fight like that," Dr Hikari said.

Lan nodded his agreement, looking at his PET with worry. He sighed and took off his sunglasses, revealing round brown eyes. He looked kinder now that they could see his eyes, emotions flickering across his face from a twitch of worry to a calm smile. He pulled out a pair of reading glasses and put them on. The frames were round, similar to Dr Hikari's.

"If you're not going to the UraNet, I'll need to program a probe to find them."

"What do you mean, 'if we're not going'?" Netto huffed. "Of course we're going!"

"Hub can handle it, your navis don't need to put themselves at risk," Lan commented with a tight smile.

Enzan huffed and narrowed his eyes at Lan. "And we're supposed to believe that Hub can handle it? We don't even know how he's able to fight! No, we should observe ourselves."

"And help!"

Netto looked to Rockman who rubbed the back of his neck nervously. However, Rockman didn't counter Netto's words.

Lan's eyes widened and his mouth opened a little in surprise. He turned to Laika. "And you?"

"I agree with them both."

Lan blinked a couple of time. "Okay." He looked down at the net. "Are you all okay with this?"

Searchman nodded.

"I have questions for Hub," Blues said.

"What?" Enzan questioned, glaring at Lan as if this was his fault.

Lan gave a nervous laugh. "Um... I have no idea what that might be..."

Blues was not impressed. He just jumped right into the hole. Searchman jumped a moment later.

"Sol Titanion," Rockman said. He looked right up at Lan. "Was Hub responsible for what happened to her twin?"

"No. Like I said earlier, we came into this much later. Can I ask a question now?"

Rockman nodded.

"Rockman?" Dr Hikari questioned in surprise. It was odd to see Rockman speak almost freely to a stranger. He looked over at Lan. Were his suspicions correct?

"Did you figure out Hub's name?"

Rockman nodded. "It's probably why Blues is adamant about chasing him."

"Blues will get a surprise if he decides to fight Hub," Lan said with a glance over at Enzan, who did not look happy. Then he tapped the brim of the cap. "I guess I don't need this anymore."

"Keep it," Rockman sighed before jumping into the hole.

Enzan glared at Netto as Netto's navi just cost them a chance to see Lan without the cap and possibly get enough for identification.

"What? Rockman's just looking out for him," Netto responded.

The navis jumped down into the hole while the their operators waited with bated breath. Lan tapped away on the computer, doing who knows what. Netto glanced over at him and saw his father looking over Lan's shoulder with an intense look.

* * *

The UraNet loaded with the sound of desolate wind. The image loaded as a desert and not a place anyone wanted to be for long.

"A harsh land and no sign of our target," Searchman commented.

"Not even a sign of disturbance," Blues mused, looking over the landscape. To their right was a bottomless ravine and to their left was rising hills of sand.

"This is bad," Lan said. "Digital or not, this whole area is sun."

"Doesn't feel digital," Netto commented. He held out his PET. "It's warmed up."

"It is quite warm here," Searchman commented.

"Sol Titanion is already having an effect on the area," Lan summarised. He clicked a couple more keys and saved his work. Then he copied the file to his PET and started up a search program. "We need to find Hub as soon as possible."

"Why?" Enzan asked.

"Because he's not equipped to fight right now. He's fighting at a disadvantage as any hit could end him." Lan tapped a couple of things on the screen of his PET and three bits of data which appeared before the three navis in the UraNet. "Try that cooldata."

"Cooldata?" Blues questioned.

Lan shrugged. "Hub says that, as a scientist, I don't have a good sense for naming things. Just take the data. It'll help keep your PETs from overheating."

Rockman reached out and took it. After a moment, probably to make sure it didn't hurt, Blues and Searchman did the same.

"So, a scientist?" Rockman asked Lan.

Lan looked surprised that he asked. "I thought I already cleared that up."

"It's just a little surprising," Rockman muttered with a thoughtful frown. "But I guess you do like messing with things."

"Oi, Rockman. What do you think you're saying?" Netto grumbled into his PET.

Rockman quickly apologised while Lan chuckled to himself.

Enzan glared at Netto. "Why are you acting like you know him?"

"Because I think I do. Kinda. It's difficult to explain."

Laika gave Dr Hikari a puzzled look. "Does that mean you do know who Lan is? Hub did say he was in a similar field to you."

Dr Hikari shook his head. "I don't think it's possible for me to know Lan. But I have a feeling I know who he is currently."

"That doesn't make sense," Enzan commented.

Lan snorted a laugh. "It does if you know where Hub and I came from. But I'm not saying any more than that until we find my brother."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

* * *

Blues and Searchman realised that Rockman had a way of tracking Hub that they didn't. Rockman walked across the sands, towards what looked like a dust covered brick path.

"Do you think that leads to an UraNet city?" Netto asked Enzan.

"The UraNet doesn't have cities but something more like infinite alleyways. I guess being built of stone might do that."

"There's no city that I can see," Laika commented. Although there were a couple of walls and what looked like destroyed buildings.

"You don't think Sol Titanion destroyed it, do you?" Netto asked.

Rockman answered, "no. These structures have been here a while." He ran his hand along one and then paused. Something pinged. He closed his eyes and could hear muttering in the distance.

Rockman walked towards a bump in the sand. Walking around revealed a small cave-like structure. And Hub, curled up inside it. His hand was pressed to his arm, data floating around it. One leg of his pants was in ashes and the leg underneath was pink with burns.

Hub's green eyes were wide with surprise and pain.

Before Rockman could do anything, Blues and Searchman were there.

"Why does he look like a beaten up Dr Hikari?" Enzan questioned.

Lan couldn't help laughing at that. "A 'beaten up Dr Hikari'? Yeah, he's something like that."

"Not a ' _Dr_ Hikari'. Despite sitting through almost all the required courses, I don't have a doctorate," Hub grumbled. He tried to move but slid to the ground with a grunt of pain.

"How bad's the damage?" Lan asked.

"Left arm and leg are useless. My vision's blurred with sunspots. It's only because I can sense Rockman that I didn't attack."

"Uh-huh," Lan said in an unimpressed tone. "And how many hits did you take?"

"...one." Hub could probably sense the annoyed look Lan was giving him. "Okay, jumping onto the net like that was stupid. But, at least Sol Titanion's here now and not out there attacking the kids."

"Not a bad plan," Dr Hikari mused. Hub was correct. Sol Titanion wouldn't be able to attack the kids until she got out of the UraNet.

* * *

Lan typed away on the computer, trying to establish a connection to Hub. It only took a couple of moments and a program sent through Rockman's PET for the blue navi to give to Hub before the odd PET Lan had gave a happy beep and loaded up an image of the UraNet.

"Alright, let's get you fixed," he said.

"There's not much you can do from a distance," Hub sighed heavily.

Lan typed away as if to say 'just watch me'. After a couple of minutes, he saved his work with a couple of key-presses and then pulled out a chip. "This should help with some of the pain and superficial stuff."

Hub winced as data flowed through him, mending his arm and clothes. Since he didn't stand up, the other navis suspected that he was still burned.

"Is anyone else wondering what's going on here?" Laika asked. "Searchman."

Searchman pulled out his gun and pointed it at Hub. "How are you able to get on the net?"

Hub barely reacted to having a gun in his face while Rockman asked Searchman what he was doing.

"It's fine," Hub said to Rockman. "I'm guessing they have questions."

"He just asked you a question," Blues pointed out.

"True. I'm able to be on the net because I'm a netnavi," Hub responded. A data sphere appeared before him, code spiralling around it. Hub looked over at Lan on the screen. "Is that recovery data?"

"Programmed it myself," Lan responded. "Using some of the files I asked you to grab earlier. It should fix the rest of the damage."

His brother had indeed taken his words as a challenge and found a way to fix him from a distance. Hub took the data, eyes glowing for a moment as he patched it in. He then pulled himself to his feet.

"Lan's connected, I'm back in form so you're all free to go."

"Hub," Lan sighed. He didn't think anyone was going anywhere.

"No way," Rockman said. "I may not like seeing you but that doesn't mean I want you deleted."

Blues and Searchman shared a look. Rockman didn't like this guy?

"Why don't you like him?" Searchman asked.

Rockman looked away. "Don't ask."

"Don't worry about it," Hub added.

"Is it because he looks like Dr Hikari?" Blues questioned.

Lan thought about it for a moment. "I don't want Hub getting deleted because he's being stubborn." He turned to Netto. "Mind handing me your PET for a moment."

"What you going to do?" Netto asked as he passed it to the stranger.

Enzan barely got the first sound of Netto's name past his lips when Lan reached up and took off his hat. Enzan's lecture on not handing your PET to people you don't know stopped before it could even start.

"Never was a fan of hiding who you are," Lan said, his brown hair falling messily over his forehead.

"He also looks like Dr Hikari," Laika commented, pointing out the obvious. The hairstyle was different, making Lan look like a Dr Hikari who hadn't brushed his hair but the glasses and face still resembled the scientist they knew.

"Lan!" Hub called out.

Lan ignored his navi, tapping away at Netto's PET. A moment later, Rockman gave an undignified squeak as his helmet dissolved into data.

Blues and Searchman looked back and forth between Rockman and Hub. There was a resemblance there.

"Hi, I'm Netto Hikari from the future. You can call me Lan because otherwise it's going to get confusing."

"What did he do?" Rockman questioned in a slightly pitched up voice, running his hands through his hair.

"It's reversible," Hub said. He glared at his brother.

"It'll only last another couple of moments," Lan informed them. "Everyone, this is RockmanEXE, my navi."

"Didn't you say you were twins?" Enzan bellowed, face doing red and hands curling into fists. He was holding his PET in a tight grip.

"I am confused as well," Laika commented.

"This explains why you feel like Rockman," Blues commented.

"Don't worry about it," Hub said. A moment later, his body flashed with light and blue armour coated his body and head. Now he looked like a taller and broader Rockman. "We'll deal with Sol Titanion and then we'll be on our way."

"Told you Hub could handle it," Lan said with a grin. The others in the room wondered how they had missed the similarities between him and Netto.

"No way," Blues responded. He stared at Hub and then turned to Rockman. "You get weak in the future."

"Weak?" Hub spluttered, offended.

"Come on guys, don't fight," Lan tried to quell the coming argument. He knew that his twin was proud of his strength, mostly gained to protect and help his family. Although, some of his strength was gained from an enjoyment of fighting and finding good challenges.

* * *

Laika stared at Lan even more now that he knew Lan was a grown up Netto. It was nerve-wracking. The worst part was that Lan couldn't even point it out because he knew that Hub would tell him to deal with it as a consequence of revealing their identities.

"I'm going to say this once; no questions about the future unless it relates to Sol Titanion," he said. "Because I probably shouldn't answer such things."

"So we won't get to know how Netto ends up a researcher?" Enzan said.

"Considering he's here, it might not even happen," Netto pointed out. The last thing he needed was people pigeonholing him into a career he wasn't even sure he was interested in.

"It's an interesting point. Is the future fixed or fluid? Is it just multiple similar dimensions at different places along the timeline?"

"Can we not?" Hub interrupted Dr Hikari. "I already sat through the speech once."

Lan blushed and looked down. "It wasn't that bad."

"Twenty-five minutes before I could get a word in, Lan," Hub grumbled.

Lan huffed and crossed his arms. "I know plenty of people who would have loved those twenty-five minutes."

Hub muttered something under his breath about how those people weren't actually considering time travel in reality, only the theory of it.

"Can we focus on the target?" Laika said.

Dr Hikari and Lan sighed while everyone else nodded and agreed. Lan tapped away on his PET and then typed on the computer.

"Running a scan for the source of this heat in 3... 2... 1..."

Hub closed his eyes and the navis shivered as it felt like a quick breeze ghosting through them. The source of the heat pinged and Hub opened his eyes while the direction to go in lit up on Lan's screen.

"Onward!" Lan announced.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

* * *

The navis walked across the sands until the heat suddenly increased. It hit them like a physical wall. The NetOps looked worriedly at their PETs and hoped the device could withstand the heat it was generating.

"I don't think the cooldata is having much effect," Laika observed.

"I'd hate to imagine what it would be like without it," Enzan said coolly.

"Glad you approve," Lan responded. "It should hold up or sound a warning if the heat gets to dangerous levels."

"This isn't dangerous?" Enzan said. It mostly went ignored as they spotted something orange darting around in the distance.

"Water chips ready?"

"Try some Quakes too, if you can get them to hit," Lan suggested. "Snuff her out."

"She's not a candle flame, Lan," Hub sighed from the computer.

"And it's not easy to use water on something that hot," Lan reminded him. He knew his brother still didn't want to delete her but she wasn't leaving them much choice. She was a danger.

"Time to show her that she didn't knock us out," Laika said.

Hub tried to stop Searchman but the navi followed his operator's instructions and ran towards the heat but also up the nearest dune in a hunt for a high place to shoot from.

"We won't be outdone," Blues announced, slashing his blade through the air. He ran forward.

"I think they're a little too focused to listen to us," Lan pointed out. He wasn't the least bit worried. Hub worried enough for the both of them.

"About Sol Titanion's twin, I know you said you have no idea who deleted her but you must have some idea," Rockmans said to Hub.

Hub shook his head. "It's not that simple. Her creator is refusing to help us. We only figured out where she came from because there's a navi who had worked in the same network as her in the past currently at SciLab. He told us what we needed to know."

"The place she came from isn't in use anymore since it was attacked. Which is worrying." Lan frowned thoughtfully.

"Why would someone attack a solar network?" Netto questioned in confusion.

"It could have been sabotage or it could have something to do with who created her."

Dr Hikari spoke up, "sounds like we might need to know who created her."

Lan winced. Hub waited to see if his brother would answer.

"As much as I'd hate for it to get out," Lan mused, "I guess I can hint at it."

"Why don't you want it to get out?"

"She happens to share her creator with another navi. A very power-hungry navi who we do not want taking her power. Especially in this time."

"What kind of navi is that?" Enzan questioned, although it sounded like he had heard something like that before.

"The other navi who was created because of the 'Independent Navi Project'," Hub supplied.

Dr Hikari froze. He immediately started thinking of ways to protect his kids. After all, if Sol Titanion had been created by the same man who created Forte, her power posed a risk. It was not a stretch to imagine someone attacking the twin navis out of fear of another Forte and Lan confirmed that it was their working theory for how Sol Titanion's twin had been deleted.

They also did not need Forte fighting his 'sister' and gaining her power. Both navis were troublesome enough separate and the damage would be untold if one of them added the powers of the other to their own.

"I know you might not like the idea, but you need to delete her," he said.

Lan was not surprised to hear that from his father. Neither was Hub. Keeping the details close to their chest had bought them time to find another solution. Just not enough time.

* * *

Sol Titanion was easy to spot, even though she was burning so bright it hurt to look at her. Lan, who hadn't stopped working on something on the computers, once again saved his work and sent it to his digital twin.

Hub grinned as sunglasses spawned into existence like a visor dropping down from his helmet. Lan might not have been proficient at making attack chips but he was very good at making items that could offer new skills and support in battle.

"Copycat," Enzan huffed. "Blues!"

Blues was already wearing a visor and was immune to the bright light Sol Titanion was putting off.

"Satellite Ray!" Searchman announced. Since one of his eyes was covered with a targeting screen, he also didn't need to worry about the bright light.

Sol Titanion vanished in the moment between being targeted and the shot being fired from the summoned satellite above her.

"This is bad," Rockman commented, readying his buster. Hub thought for a second and tapped the sun visor Lan had sent him. It dissipated into data which Hub then tapped onto Rockman's helmet. "What?" Rockman questioned as the world became shaded and easier to see.

"I'll fight blind," Hub said, closing his green eyes. "It's not the first time."

"He'll be alright, right?" Netto said to Lan.

Lan shrugged but said, "we won't get deleted."

"Kyahahaha!" The laugh sounded right in front of them as Sol Titanion dropped down. Fire surrounded her and she whipped it out in Rockman's and Hub's direction.

"Get down!" Hub said, grabbing Rockman and pulling him to the ground.

Lan quickly slot in a chip. "Aqua tower!"

Hub slammed his hand onto the ground, a tower of water spouting into existence. Sol Titanion was close enough to be clipped by it, letting out a screech and floating quickly back.

"Rockbuster!" Rockman said, firing on her. She dodged the shots in all directions, floating around like a puppet on a string.

Blues appeared behind her, getting a cut in but also being clipped by one of Rockman's blasts.

"Blues!" Rockman cried out guilty.

Searchman saw his chance and tossed a search grenade at her. It exploded in her face and, while the attack missed, it trapped her long enough for Blues to get up and attack again.

"Keep firing!" Hub told Rockman as he started rushing forward. "Lan!"

Lan nodded because, even though Hub couldn't see him right now, Hub would know his response. He slot the spreader gun chips in.

"Hyper Burst!" Hub announced, buster arm glowing with power before he fired off a series of explosive attacks in Sol Titanion's direction.

When the dust and smoke cleared, Sol Titanion was kneeling on the ground. Her flames were gone and data was spilling off her shoulders, arms and body.

"This... this can't be. I can't lose! Not... to you pathetic na...vis..." With a final scream, her body exploded in one final attack which tore her data apart.

"Wow, she actually sounded like her brother for a moment there," Lan commented.

* * *

Dr Hikari insisted on checking their navis over after that battle. While it had seemed easy enough, their navis had been fighting through intense heat. Plus, as Hub pointed out more than once, it was their working together that had made it easier.

Hub had taken off his navi suit and was back to looking like a digitised human. Lan gave him a quick check over before okaying his presence back in the physical world.

Netto watched in amazement as Hub appeared, looking like their father but without glasses.

"Alright, I'm going to get us something to eat," Hub announced.

"Curry."

"No curry."

"Mama's curry?"

Hub sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "You don't even know if Mama's making curry. Besides, we can't just invite ourselves to dinner like that."

"Yes, you can!" Netto said, excitedly.

"Why not?" Rockman commented with a shrug.

Hub did not glare at the kids. But he did glare at Lan for making the suggestion in the first place.

Lan looked to Dr Hikari. "Do you mind if we join your family for dinner? It would make it easier since we don't exactly have much currently valid for this time."

"I don't mind at all," Dr Hikari said.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes:** So this is the final chapter of this story. I chose the ending I did because I feel it's a good place to stop. This story jumps into the story and it jumps out. Look forward to my next MegamanEXE/RockmanEXE story on the 6th of next month.

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

* * *

Haruka was surprised to see her husband return home with her son. It made a little more sense after he told her about Lan and Hub. Lan grinned widely and waved, excitedly chatting about how this place looked different to how he remembered it and how small it seemed. Hub gave a small smile and nodded to her. He was content just to sit and listen. He took a book from the shelf and started to read while Lan talked battle strategies with Netto and science with Yuuchiro.

"Do you mind if I help?" Hub asked when Haruka started chopping vegetables for dinner.

Haruka handed him a knife and watched as he wielded it easily. It was strange to see her son all grown up, especially a son she never thought she would see grow.

"Can you eat?" she asked him. According to her husband, Hub was still a navi.

"Yeah. Food gets converted into energy so I'm not a complete drain on the PET."

"If he eats enough, he can recharge the PET when he goes back in!" Lan piped up from the table.

"How does that work?" Dr Hikari questioned.

Lan started explaining his theories on the matter.

Hub hummed. "I think maybe we should visit you guys again, back in our time. It's been a while since Lan's been able to just talk science without any worries."

"So Netto becomes a scientist," Haruka mused, looking at the older version of her boy. "Well, he did want to be like his papa once, years ago."

Hub chuckled. Quietly, he said, "honestly? I think that Netto had a growing realisation over years about what he could do."

"Well, I think it's a good thing, if it means I can finally hug you."

Hub went still as his mother wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. She had done something similar when he and Lan had first shown her this new technology.

* * *

When school got out, Netto was surprised to see a familiar limo sitting outside the school gates. What was his life that a limo could be familiar to him?

"Enzan?" he questioned, standing by the window. It went down.

"Where's Lan?" Enzan demanded to know.

Netto was confused. Rockman answered, "he and Hub went to SciLab this morning with Papa."

"SciLab? Why?"

"Something about fixing the hole they made," Netto responded. "Are you going to give us a lift?"

Enzan seemed to think about it for a moment. The easiest way to get into SciLabs was to bring Netto with him. The staff were used to seeing him wandering around and they all knew his father. With a huff and a clipped 'fine', Enzan opened the door for Netto.

Blues appeared in Rockman's PET with his usual, serious expression.

"How are you dealing?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You are basically entertaining a future version of yourself, if Hub and Lan are to be believed."

Rockman nodded. They could be believed. There was too much evidence for them being at least a version of Netto and Rockman. Although Rockman couldn't imagine walking around looking like Saito.

"Lan slept in. Hub had to wake him up this morning," Rockman described. It was about the limit of their interaction in the morning. "Lan drinks coffee."

"I don't know how. Coffee's gross," Netto said, making a face. It seemed his tastes would change as the years progressed.

"Coffee is an impressive stimulant which comes in many different flavours," Enzan pointed out with a fondness for the beverage. "It's not its fault that you don't recognise its value."

Netto rolled his eyes.

* * *

The first thing Netto did when they reached SciLab was send Rockman into the Net. Rockman made for the area Hub and Sol Titanion had fought the day before. Searchman was already there, watching the brown haired man kneeing with his hands on the ground.

Hub's eyes were glowing a soft green and he wasn't responsive. The floor around him seemed to be pulsing with darting lines. No one was getting close.

"It's strange enough to see someone who looks human on the net," Blues commented as he didn't blame the navis for keeping their distance. "But for him to be manipulating data is even stranger."

"What's he doing?" Rockman asked Searchman.

"No idea. He was like this when we arrived."

Lan's face appeared before them. Their operators had reached Dr Hikari's office.

"Hub's just finishing up our repairs on the hole to the UraNet," Lan cheerfully said. "We don't want to leave any damage for you all to deal with."

"That's nice," Rockman mused. "Why is Hub... looking like a human right now?"

Lan could only guess. "I guess he didn't want to change."

Hub lifted his hands, the floor returning to normal without any sign of damage. "Actually, it would be confusing if I looked like an older version of Rockman. I think I'd rather avoid the questions."

"They're still curious though," Searchman pointed out with a glance at the navis who had been keeping watch from a safe distance.

"Yeah, but they're not bugging me," Hub responded, jacking out right after.

Enzan jumped the moment Hub's voice sounded from behind them.

"So Lan, when did you plan to take us home?"

"Soon," came Lan's answer. He didn't really seem to be doing anything important. Although, it was difficult to tell when he was tapping away on his PET.

Hub sighed. "It's already late afternoon. Just get the Time Data and let us leave."

"But I wanted to get some curry from MaHa Ichiban," Lan whined.

Hub shook his head. "And I want to go home."

"Are they going to fight?" Enzan asked Laika.

Laika shrugged and looked at Meijin, who had been watching over the twins since they arrived at SciLab that morning. He wondered if it was coincidence that Meijin was munching away at a bag of sweets like they were popcorn while the twins argued.

"So you had the curry for lunch and you're still not ready to leave?" Rockman questioned the twins.

"But... but...!"

Hub crossed his arms and glared eye-to-eye with his brother. "Or are you trying to avoid the pile of paperwork back home? You know, that pile I was telling you to complete before Sol Titanion broke into SciLab."

Lan's lack of answer was all the answer they needed. Rockman joined his future counterpart in glaring at his brother's future counterpart and Lan broke under the pressure.

"Fine!" he huffed. "I'll get the data ready!"

Hub grinned and clapped his hands. "Now that's more like it."

"Do you really want to leave that much?" Netto questioned Hub in a soft voice.

"We don't really belong here in the first place. We only stayed the night because it was easier to fix the net and collect up any leftover fragments of Sol Titanion's data after a good night's rest."

"And because of Mama's cooking," Lan added as he looked through his chips for the one they needed to get home.

Hub was more straightforward. "It's time for us to leave."

"So, how long before Netto actually starts acting like an adult?" Enzan asked Hub quietly so that Netto and Lan couldn't hear.

"Do you really want him to?" Hub questioned back, knowing that Enzan enjoyed Netto's childishness.

Enzan didn't know how to respond to that. He should say 'yes' but he didn't think that was the right answer.

"Ah-hah!" Lan announced, holding up a chip. "Time to go home!"

Hub stepped away from Enzan and the kids and made his way over to his twin.

"You're going to want to step back!" Lan announced.

"Thanks for helping us!" Hub said.

"And for the food!" Lan added as he slot the chip into his PET.

Hub closed his eyes, glowing so bright that no one could look. They seemed to beam out of the room as they returned to their time.


End file.
